


What To Do

by LynMars79



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Gen, POV First Person, Present Tense, Stormblood, Unnamed WoL, thoughts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-15
Updated: 2018-03-15
Packaged: 2019-03-31 19:26:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13981728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LynMars79/pseuds/LynMars79
Summary: Why does the WoL continue to accept those Hildibrand quests, despite all warnings? A prompt response that got longer than intended.





	What To Do

> _“…May I ask a personal question? Now that the dust has settled, what will you do? Not as a Scion, I mean, but…what do you want for yourself?”_

I slide into the hot water, listening to the low jabber of the other customers in their own pools. A wind blows in from the sea, salty and cool compared to the steam rising around me.

> _“Now that the dust has settled…”_

It hadn’t settled for long, had it? As if the Spinner heard Ser Aymeric’s words and laughingly pulled the threads of fate to make sure the Warrior of Light kept busy, with an injured friend and Garuda’s summoning sudden priorities, immediately followed by yet more urgent concerns.

> _“Not as a Scion, I mean…”_

Almost everything I do is as a Scion, from the moment I’d accepted the Archons’ invitation and Momodi’s directions–and warnings–to the Waking Sands. Gods, it feels like forever ago–yet it wasn’t really, was it? It’s just that so much happened, so quickly, one event after another.

I look back at my clothes, waiting for me to be done in the hot spring.

> _“I also sewed in a blood pearl charm to…you know…bring you home. May it always protect you.”_

I can’t help a smile as I remember Tataru’s words. Home. I hadn’t known what that word meant, until the Scions of the Seventh Dawn. Until Minfilia ( _push down the pang that always comes with recalling, she’ll return, she promised_ ) used “family” to describe our weary band of scholars and warriors.

> _“What will you do?”_

“What I always do,” had been the immediate thought to spring to mind. Train. Study. Fight. Help those who need it, who ask. Trade the spoils of battle at one of Rowena’s shops for better equipment to better fight in the next battle. Be ready for the next disaster, the next crisis, the next time the realm needs a champion…

I sigh and slide lower, until my nose is just barely above the water, the scent of the rice wine noticeable now and stinging a bit.

What DO I want for myself? Do I even know anymore?

My mind tries to return to the Royal Menagerie, but I dismiss those memories–those _accusations_ –as I get out of the pool.

I’m _not_ like that monster. I don’t crave blood, or carnage, nor do I glory in death and destruction. I just…don’t hate it. I’m _good_ at what I do. And being good at what I do means I can protect everyone else.

Well. I can try, at least. It doesn’t always work out that way, does it?

( _Lilies left at Thaliak’s mark, at a stone near the Steel Vigil, at the docks of Azys Lla, at…_ )

I get dressed. I pay my bill. I start to walk across Kugane–it’s too nice a day and I am thinking too much to want to use the aetherytes–and I wonder how much longer we’re going to have to wait for these negotiations, for this farce of a prisoner exchange, for sas Brutus to play his hand–

I feel dizzy; too much time in the bath, perhaps. I lean on a nearby wall for a moment to get my bearings. I catch a glimpse of a pink dress and a dark tail from the corner of my eye.

> _“What will you do?”_

I can’t help a smile as I push off the wall. I wave and call out to Nashu Mhakaracca; her glee at seeing me is guileless and genuine. There’s a wolf burglar to catch and a missing inspector to find.

I want to have _fun_ again–and if nothing’s going to make sense anyway, then by the gods, I ought to try to have a good time while the world bends in on itself. If nothing else, it’ll be something…interesting…to do while we wait for this Doma situation to resolve so we can go home again.

**Author's Note:**

> I have trouble with the "micro" part of "micro-fiction." Also titles are hard when the prompt was "crave" but that didn't really fit as a title for how this turned out.


End file.
